Apparatus for firing projectiles from air-craft.



G. DAVIS.

APPARATUS FOR FIRING PROJEGTILES FROM AIR CRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 7, 1913.

M. mm r Am mm 6 MM .1 8 O I 1 I 1 @M C. DAVIS.

APPARATUS FOR FIRING PROJEOTILES FROM AIR CRAFT.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 7, 1913.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

s SHEETSSHEET 2.

I. MI? I II I c. DAVIS. APPARATUS FOR FIRING PEOJBOTILBS FROM AIR CRAFT.

APPLICATION FILED JULY '1, 1913.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914,-

5 ,SHE.ETSSEEET a.

Il 14A G. DAVIS.

APPARATUS FOR FIRING PROJEOTILES PROM AIR CRAFT.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 7, 1913.

Patented Aug". 25, 1914.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4 0. DAVIS. I APPARATUS FOR FiRING PROJEGTILBS FROM AIR CRAFT.

Patented Aug. 25, 1914.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 7, 1913. 1, 1 08,716.

5 SHEETSSHEET 5.

UNITED STATESQPATENM CLELAJND nAvIs, or THE UNITED STATES NAVY, Ass IGiIoR'rooRnNANcnnEvE ora- MENT COMPANY, A'CORPORATION, OF DELAWARE.JZ\

APPARATUS FOR FmmGPRoJEcm Es rac st ntenna.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CLELAND DAVIS, coinniander, United States Navy, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Firing Projectiles from Air- (raft and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in an apparatus for firing projectiles from air craft, and the object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which will be sufiiciently light to be carried, with one or more projectiles and propelling charges, by the air craft; to be readily and quickly loaded and re-loaded; and to be quickly and conveniently clamped in any desired position, and more especially to provide a gun which may be fired with as little recoil as possible o as not to upset the balance of, or to put undue strains upon the air craft.

According to the present invention, the gun, and firing means, is.so arranged that a compensating mass whose inertia is preferably substantially the same as that of the projectile flies through the open breech of th gun in the opposite direction to the projeetile. By this means the shock of the recoil is neutralized and no undue strain is imposed upon the air craft.

A still further object is to provide suitable ammunition for the gun, and so arrange the gun that the loading apparatus may be reduced to a very simple form, which may be readily and conveniently operated on board the air craft, and which is not likely to get out of order.

This invention is intended especially to provide improvements in the apparatus shown in my pending U. S. application filed August 22, 1911, Serial No. 645365, entitled Aeroplane gun, and my U. S. application filed November 21, 1911, Serial No. 661566,

entitled Apparatus for firing projectiles t'rom aero lanes. My invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 shows the gun inou'iited on the aeroplane, parts only of the aeroplane being shown; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the gun for carrying th gun.

as detached fromits mount; Fig. 3 showsa 3, and looking in the direction of tlie'arrows; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of those Specification of Lette rs Itatent Pa t A g 1914,. Application filed July 7,1913. Serial No. 777,763.: i v

part of the apparatus'shown in Fig. las seen troni the right thereof; Fig.- 6 IS a plan view of the parts shown in Figs. 4 and f); l ig. 4 shows a section along the line 7-7 of Fig.3, and looking in the direction of the"- arrows; Fig. 8 shows a SBQtlOII'tIlOHg the line 88 of Fig. 3,and-looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. tl'sliows a section along the line 9-.9 of Fig; 3, and looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 10 shows a section along the line 10-10 of Fig. 9, and looking in the directionof the arrows;'l ig.

11 is a detail view showing the extractor cain; Fig. 12- is a detail sliowin the front" view of the extractor; Fig. 13 shows a side elevation of the extractor, parts being-broken away; Figs. let and 15 show side and plan views, respectively, of the extractor lever;

Fig. 16 is a section showing the firing device; Fig. 17 is a side elevation of the tele-' scopie sight carried by the pointing arm; and Fig. 18 is a detail showing the trunnion band and trunnions.

The gun is mounted upon a suitable mount. such as the pedestal .2, attached to any suitable part 1, of the framework ol the aeroplane, dirigible, orother air ci'att,

ries the yoke 3 swiveled therein, which sup ports the trunnions 4 of the trunnion band 5 of the gun. I

The gun barrel is shown composed of two parts, the forward part 6 being practically the same as in any ordinary gun barrel, which may be tapered-tmvard the muzzle 7. In'order to secure the requisite lightness the gun barrel should preferably be made of the highest quality of steel, such, for instance, as vanadium steel, heat treated, where the tensile strength and elastic limit. are several times as great as in ordinary steel. The pedestal and other portions of the mount, except the gun barrel proper, should be made of very light material, such as aluminum alloys.

Mounted on the barrel portion of the gun barrel are the trunnion band 5 and the band 8 surrounding the screw box. Both of these bands are provided with downwardly-pro- This pedestal '2. car

jecting hollow lugs adapted to journal hearings for the supporting spindle 9, which is held against longitudinal movement in said bearings as by the pin :9 and the collar .48. This spindle is preferably made of steel tubing for the sake of lightness.

The rear portion of the gun barrel 10, when in the firing position, is locked to the forward portion 6 by means of interrupted screw threads 11, as shown most clearly in- Figs. 3 and 4:. This rear portion of the barrel, corresponding to the breech lock of an' ordinary gun, is open rearward, and is loosely mounted in the operating band 12 and the rear band 13; and these two bands 12 and 13 are rigidly connected to the spin: (lle 9.

The band 12 is provided with a.

curved cam groove adapted to receive the. reduced portion of the operating handle 14:,

by means of the screw threads 15.

' which is secured to the part 10 of the gun, as i This curved cam groove is arranged so that its 1 part 16 will permit the slight turning and 1 rearward movement of the operating handle j for unlocking the interrupted screw threads,

and the part 17 will permit a slight rear ward motion of the breech end of the gun barrel, permitting the screw threads 11 to become disengage d, and the rear part 10 of the gun barrel to be movedfar enough to the 1 rear to have these screw threads clear the screw box. Now, if the handle is let go, or is given a twisting movement, the rear part of the gun barrel will swing downward either by gravity alone, or with the assistance of thepower applied to the handle, to

the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, 1

thus unmasking the breech of the gun and permitting the insertion of the cartridge case from the rear.

In order to limit the downward swing of i the rear portion of the barrel :1 suitable stop, such as, 18, see Figs. 4, 5 and 6, is provided,

which is carried by an arm 19 attached to the band 8.

movement of the handle will disengage the interrupted screw threads, will move the; rear portion of the gun barrel to the rear j and will then cause this portion of the gun barrel and the parts moving therewith to rock the spindle 9 to a sufiicient angle to .un-

mask the breech of the forward portion of 'lo close the breecln reverse the 1 which tridge case having its forward end crimped 1 into the projectile 21, which projectile may 1 be of the ordinary, or any preferred type. In the rear of the projectile is the propelling charge of powder 22, and in rear of this are one or more wads 23, preferably of felt, or

aroma-.10

fragments when expelled to t e rear, thus preventing injury to persons below other than those aimed at. It will be obvious that :a projectile might be carried in the rear of the wads 23 to be fired in the rearward direction, and at the same time that the forward profiectile is fired through the muzzle of the gem. In ordinary practice, it would be preferable to have the compensatin recoil weight made of suitable disintegrata le material. In rear of this compensating weight, I may provide a suitable wad 25 preferably of felt, which forms a closure for the rear end of the cartridge case. If desired, a friable end may be used in the cartridge case adapted to blow out under low pressure when the gun is fired; but I prefer to use a cartridge case that is open at its rear, not only to avoid any unbalanced shock, but also to enable the cartridge case to be con.- veniently reloaded when desired, with the low pressures of this type of gun there would be very little permanent set in expansion of the cartridge case,'and the same may be used over and over again without stickin in the bore.

In order to ignite the propelling charge, I have designed a novel form of electric firing apparatus, shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 16, and in which 26, see Fig. 16, represents an insulating collar mountedin the groove 27 stamped in the rear of the cartridge case, and inclosed in this insulating collar, but countersunk below the periphery of the cartridge case, is a metallic ring 28 carrying the conducting piece 29 of the primer 30. 'When the cartridge case is shoved home to the firing position, this conducting ring 28 will register with the spring plunger 29, or

firing pin, of the firing plug 31, and this plunger is connected in the well known way It will be seen that a short and continuous by the conductor 32. and switch 33 tonne pole of the source of electricity indicated at 35 in Fig. 3, while the. other pole is connected by the conductor 34 to any portion of the gun body, so that when the switch 33 is closed the current will pass through the primer and explode same, igniting the,

. ro ellin char e in the cartrid e case irrespective of the position of the firing pin 29' relative to the primer. I have arranged that the switch shall be operated by the trigger of the gun, as shown in Fig. 1. Of course, there should be an electric cut out to break thecircuit when the breech of the gun is open. Any of the well known elec-' trical devices used for this purpose may be adopted, if desired.

In order to remove, or at least start the empty cartridge case after the gun has been fired, I provide the extractor mechanism shown in detail in Figs. 9 to 15, in which 40 represents the extractor having the usual claw 41 adapted to engage the rim 20 of the partridge case 20..- This extractor has a per iorated heel .42 adaptedqto, engage in the socket 43 of the extractor lever 44, and this extractor lever and the extractor are both pivotally connected to the socket 8 carried bythe band 8, by means of the bolt 46.

The arm '45 ofthe extractor lever projects .in the path of movement of the cam arm 47 ofthe extractor'cam 48, which cam is secured to and rocks with the shaft 9. IVhen the breech of the gun is open, the rear portion of the barrel, andthe moving parts carried thereby, swing about the axis of the spindle 9, and the arm 47 of the extractor cam is caused to strike the arm 45 of the extractor lever with a sharp blow, as well as a. camming action, and causes the extractor to start the cartridge case rearward. If it is not totally ejected by the extractor action,

it will be moved far enough to the rear to be readily pulled out by hand. A sharp swinging action of the handle would, of

--':ourse, supplement the inertia of the moving parts and thus sufficient extraction will be secured. For reasons already explained, there will be little tendency of the cartridge case to stick in the bore, and no great power would be needed in extracting, or starting the same.

In order to point the gun I have provided the pointing arm 50 secured to the trunnion band 5 in any convenient way as by means of the screw threads 51 and the bolt 52, so

. that this pointing arm rocks the gun body about its trunnions. At the rear end of the pointing arm I provide a curved shoulder piece which is so arranged that the gun pointer may use the same in moving the gun through a wide angle about its trunnions' If it is desired to fire the gun in the vertical, or nearly vertical, direction, this pointing arm may be adjustably connected to the gun body in any convenient way.

In order to get the proper angle between the line of fire and the line of sight, I- provide the telescopic sighting arrangement carried by the pointing arm, and shown in Figs. 1, .2 and 17 This sighting arrangement comprises a suitable yoke 54 to carry the telescope trunnions, the telescope 55 mounted on said trunnions, and the graduated arm 56 slotted at 57 to receive the clamping screw 58 of the telescope .holder 59. This telescopemay be thus adjusted at any desired elevation, or rather depression, since the gun would ordinarily be fired at an angle of de-' pression.

When not in use, the gun may be clamped in the desired position by means of the clamp lever 53.

In the herein described construction, I do not mean to limit the invention to any particular means of mounting the gun on the air craft, as this means would be varied according to the nature of the craft itself,

. While I have suggested that the counter mass should be of substantially the same weight as to the projectile, so that the resultant inertia should be practically neutralized,thus limiting the shock on the gun platform, there, nevertheless, may be mate rial differences in the weight of the projectile and the counter weight within which the gun would function properly.- While I have-shown'the gun barrel with a smooth bore, and that would be the preferable construction because lighter barrels could be used than if the barrel were rifled, still the gun may be rifled if desired; in which case it would. preferably have the rear portion of thebarrel also rifled, with similar rifling rearward of the powder chamber to that forward of the same, and a counter weight should preferably be used adapted to take a rifiing band, so that the twisting effect of the rifling on the gun mount might be neutralized. The twisting of the two projectiles in opposite directions would cause two equal and opposite forces to neutralize any rotary movement of the gun about its axis. With a very light gun on a very light platform, this rotary force if unbalanced might result in accidents, which would not be likely to occur with an ordinary gun on an ordinary mount. It will be noted that this mount and the gun platform are not affected by the shock of recoil, and they need only be ofsufiicient strength to support the weights carried.

It will be obvious that various other modifications might be made in the herein described apparatus, and in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts which could be used without departing from the spirit of my invention. -0 Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure'by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A gun having a barrel of light, highgrade material made up of two interlocking sections, bothsections having the bore continuous therethrough, with-means for lock ing said sections together and unlocking the same, and means for swinging the rear section clear of the front section, substantially .120 as described. I

2. A gun having its barrel composed of two members with the bore 0 en through each, with means for detacha ly connecting said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial locked position, substantially as described.

3. A gun'having its barrel composed of two members, with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connecting; said members together, and meansfor swinging the breech member laterally away" from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for re-' turning the same to the initial locked position, said means comprising a spindle jour naled on the forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands secured to said spindle and loosely mounted on the breech member,

said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial locked posi tion, said means comprising a spindle jour naled on the forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands secured to said spindle and loosely mounted on the breech member, a slotted screw engagement between the two members, and means for rotating the breech member in its hands, drawing thesame to the rear, and swinging same about its spindle, said means comprising a handle attached to the breech member, and a cam groove provided in one of said bands and engaging said handle, substantially as described.

5. A gun having its barrel composed of two members with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connecting Y said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial locked position, with a stop carried by the forward portion to limit the swing of the rear'portion about the axis of saidspindle, substantially as described.

6. A gun having its barrel composed of two members with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connecting said members together, and means for swing-- ing the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial locked position, sald means comprising a spindle journaled on the forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands-secured to said 'spindlesand loosely mounted on the breech member, a

' a slotted screw engagement between the two members, and means forrotating the breech member in its hands, drawingthe same to l the: rear, and swinging same about its spindle, with a stop carried by the forward portion to limit the swing of the rear portion about the axis of said spindle, substantially f as described. I 7. A. 'gun having its barrel composed of "two members with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connecting g said members together, and means for swing- 1 ing the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the v two members are disengaged and for returninn' the same to the initial locked position, said means comprising a-spindle joi-n'naled on the forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands secured to said spindle and loosely mounted on the breech men'iber, a

slotted screw engagement betweenthe two members, and means for rotating the breech :IllQlllbOl' in its hands, drawing the'same to the rear, and swinging same about its spiudle, said means comprising a handle atta ched to the breech member, and a rain groove provided in one of said bands and enga ing said handle, with a stop carried by the forward portion to limit the swing of the rear portion about the axisof said spindle, substantially as described.

'8. A gun having a barrel of light, highgrade material made up of two interlocking sections, both sections having the bore continuous therethrough, with means for looking said sections together and unlocking the same, and means for swinging the rear section clear of the front section, with a cartridge case extractor pivoted on the forward section of the gun, with moans operated by the movement of the rear section of the gun for operating said extractor, substantially as described.

9. A gun having its barrel composed of two members with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connecting said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when thr two members are disengaged and for return ing the same to the initial locked position, with a cartridge case extractor mounted on the forward member, with means operated by the movement of the breech member for operating said extractor.

10. A gun. having its barrel composed of two members with the bore open through veach, with means for de ach-filly connecting said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial lockedposition, said means comprising a spindle ournaled onthe forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands secured to said spindle and loosely mounted on the breech member,

a slotted screw engagement between the two members, and means for rotating the breech member in its hands, -drawing the same to the rear, and swinging same about its spindle, with a cartridge case extractor mounted on the forward member, an extractor lever projecting therethrough, and a cam carried by said spindle and adapted to engage said cartridge case'lever when said breech member is swung laterally, substantially as described.

11. A gun having its barrel'composedof two members with the bore open through each, with means for detachably connectin said members together, and means for swinging the breech member laterally away from the forward member of the gun when the two members are disengaged and for returning the same to the initial locked position,

said means comprising a spindle journaled on the forward member parallel to the axis thereof, bands secured to said spindle and loosely mounted on the breech member, a

slotted screw engagement between the two i members, and means for rotating the breech member in its bands, drawing the same to the rear, and swinging same about its spindle, said means comprising a handle attached to the breech member, and a cam groove provided in one of said rings and engaging saidhandle, with a cartridge case extractor mounted in the forward member, an extractor lever projecting therethrou h, and a cam carried by said spindle and a apted to engagle said cartridge case lever when said breec member is swung laterally, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

CLELAND DAVIS.

Witnesses:

B. H. DAILIY, R. M. P. 

